NHSA SURVEY: 77 PERCENT OF HEAD START PROGRAMS ARE "AT BREAKING POINT," UNABLE TO ABSORB NEW CUTS AND HUNDREDS OF NEW RULES  

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.///March 19, 2008///Underfunded and overburdened Head Start programs across America are in crisis today, with more than three out of four (77 percent) reporting that they are "at or near the breaking point" and unable to absorb a Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 budget cut and hundreds of new unfunded mandates imposed in the 2007 Head Start Reauthorization Act, according to a survey released today by the National Head Start Association (NHSA).

After years of slashing budgets, employees and benefits to squeeze into an effective 11 percent budget cut from FY 2002-2008, Head Start programs are now warning that there are no more cuts to be made.  NHSA is now advising House and Senate appropriators about the urgent need for a $472 million FY 2008 supplemental appropriation to cover the nearly $11 million cut in the FY 2008 Head Start budget, as well as the wide array of costly new requirements in the Head Start Reauthorization Act signed into law in December .

The extensive NHSA poll of 477 programs in 49 states and Puerto Rico also found:

• More than three out of five (63 percent) Head Start program directors expect to lose good teachers and assistants who lack the financial means to further their education or who will anticipate a salary increase if they acquire the required credentials under the Reauthorization Act.  With no new funds provided in the FY 2008 funding to help pay for the new credentials required under the 2007 Reauthorization Act, the end result is expected to be a major hit on Head Start teacher retention.

• About half (47 percent) of Head Start programs reported that they already are much less able to keep good teachers because many of the poorly paid teachers either leave the teaching profession or go to work in public schools where teacher salaries are often much higher.

• About half (49 percent) of Head Start programs reported that their waiting lists of children in need of services have increased, but these programs lack the enrollment slots to serve them.

• More than three out of five (62 percent) programs have been forced to reduce days of operation and/or reduce hours on operating days.

Commenting on the new survey findings, National Head Start Association Board Chairman Ron Herndon, who is also director of the Albina Head Start program (Portland, OR) said:  "Head Start has squeezed every last drop of possible cuts out of the programs in the last few years.  Now, we are talking about what amounts to the slow-motion shuttering of Head Start programs across the nation.  Once you allow Washington to start cutting into the bone of these programs, you are essentially countenancing the destruction of Head Start.  Make no mistake about it:  Head Start either needs to get funded at a level commensurate with its mission or the program will die a slow death.  The 2007 Reauthorization Act without the funding to implement it is a deliberate decision by the Administration and some in Congress to set up the program to fail.   Now that the bar has been raised in the Reauthorization Act, these programs have been cut off at the knees and rendered unable to clear the bar."
 
Holyoke-Chicopee-Springfield Head Start Executive Director Janis Santos said: "In my 35 years working in the Head Start community, this is one of the direst funding situations I have seen, if not the worst ever.  The hardest thing for any program to do is have to request a reduction in enrollment.  We are at the breaking point today and have to count every penny and analyze every expense with painstaking detail.  The mandates in the reauthorization bill last year look to raise the bar for the program, as most reauthorization bills have in the past, but failing to fund these mandates has put additional strain on grantees already stretched to the breaking point.  We have 500 children on the wait list for our programs.  Now, we are being asked under the new bill to serve the extremely needy community of homeless, but we aren't even funded enough to serve the children already looking to our program for their education needs.  We want to help all the kids who need it but can't without the necessary funds to do the job."

Minnesota Head Start Association Executive Director Gayle Kelly said:  "In this heavily rural state, transportation is a major issue of concern with our programs. Providing transportation is really necessary for Head Start programs to properly serve their communities but with the cost of gas steadily increasing, programs are really struggling.  Many programs are saying they won't be able to continue to provide transportation next year but decreases in transportation affect enrollment and attendance.  It's a vicious cycle.  I would like to tell our lawmakers both in the state and on the federal level to ‘fund your priorities'.  We have four-year-olds on our waiting list and if they don't get served, they will enter kindergarten next year unprepared.  That will mean unhelpful long-term consequences for those children and for the future of our country."

 

OTHER KEY FINDINGS

• More than a quarter (28 percent) of Head Start programs have had to cut or eliminate employee health care benefits over the past year.  About the same percentage (27percent) have had to cut or eliminate other employee benefits. According to Head Start directors, these factors have led to high turnover rates and low staff morale and have hindered their ability to maintain highly qualified staff members.

• More than three out of four (78 percent) programs reported that over the past year they have eliminated staff positions and reassigned job responsibilities to other staff members. According to the survey, Head Start programs have drastically cut "family service" staff and have increased the caseloads of remaining family service staff members. A program in Arkansas, for example, has its family service workers managing average caseloads of 83 families, and in a program in Ohio, each family service worker manages caseloads of 50 to 90 families. This far exceeds numbers that allow a family service worker to be effective.   

• More than three out of five (77 percent) programs have been forced to slash transportation services.  Nearly half (45 percent) indicated that they have had to cut or eliminate bus services over the past year. In fact, a program in New York reported that they had to cut its transportation services by 75 percent. Transportation increases access to Head Start; without it, many children are not able to attend.

• Nearly one in five (16 percent) of programs have had to cut back from a full-day/full-year to a part-day/part-year program.   

• Nearly one in four (23 percent) of programs have had to increase class sizes over the past year.

• More than one in 10 (13 percent) reported that they had to close classrooms over the past year.

• More than three out of five (61 percent) of programs reported that reduced funding has hampered training and professional development in their programs. Many programs expressed concern because they are unable to send staff to high-quality training that is responsive to their growing needs. Programs reported that they are unable to provide tuition reimbursement for staff.    

 

For the full survey findings, go to http://www.nhsa.org on the Web.

BACKGROUND

On February 4, 2008, NHSA warned that the President's proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget for Head Start comes in $923 million short of covering the effective cut in the program since Fiscal Year (FY) 2002. NHSA has calculated that, if Head Start is going to be saved, the program needs a ‘catch up' appropriation of at least an extra $472 million now in the FY 2008 supplemental appropriations bill and then an additional $360 million over and above the prior fiscal year's funding level for each fiscal year from 2009 to 2013.  

Hundreds of Head Start programs across the United States had no choice in 2006 and 2007 but to scale back days and hours of operations, bus service, support staff, and other critical services and manpower. Many Head Start programs have even had to eliminate health insurance coverage for their teachers and staff. With cash-strapped Head Start programs already having slashed operations to the bone (and beyond in some cases), the FY 2008 funding cut means that Head Start programs will have experienced a real decline in federal support of 11 percent since FY 2002 (inflation-adjusted).  If federal support for Head Start had kept pace with inflation over this period, it would have risen from $6.54 billion in FY 2002 to $7.77 billion in FY 2008.

ABOUT NHSA

The National Head Start Association (http://www.nhsa.org) is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than 1 million children, 200,000 staff and 2,600 Head Start programs in the United States. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start community by advocating for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development to Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery.

CONTACT:   Ailis Aaron Wolf, (703) 276-3265 or aaaron@hastingsgroup.com.